The Future of Agriculture

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Robotic Harvesting

Vesca Robotics is pioneering exciting new technology for robotic harvesting. Our advanced robotics and computer vision techniques are making it possible for automated systems to harvest delicate fresh-market crops.

Over the last several decades, there has been much success in mechanical (blind) harvesting. Yet, there are certain crops that are nearly impossible to harvest mechanically. Some reasons include plant damage, fruit damage, crops that do not ripen uniformly and those that continue to produce fruit for long periods. For such crops, robotic harvesting is the only solution.

Harvesting is back-breaking work that few want to do. Increasingly stringent immigration laws and culture are making it more difficult for farmers to find competitive labor and Americans are simply not interested in working on farms. To top it off, low-cost labor in Mexico and our free trade agreement has allowed Mexican crops to undercut the cost of American produce. As a result, some California farmers are moving acreage to Mexico. American farmers need robotic harvesting to compete.

Technology has come a long way over the past few decades. Low-cost electronics, improving computer vision, and new machine learning techniques have put robotic harvesting just within reach. It is no longer a matter of feasibility, but how soon it will happen.

Vesca Robotics is pushing the envelope of technology and human achievement. The goal of robotic harvesting was carefully chosen for the opportunity it represents for computer vision and artificial intelligence research. We believe that computer vision is a crucial part of future automation technology and that it will help us solve the world’s most difficult research problems. We hope our research will lead to more effective artificial intelligence that will automate research necessary to find treatments and cures for diseases we currently barely understand. It is this purpose that drives us.